The present invention relates to scanning and printing. Optical storage media has become a convenient and economic way of archiving and backing data, music and video; the typical optical media includes compact disc (CD) media and digital video disc (DVD) media and many other variants. As a result of a growing popularity, the price of CD media, DVD media and similar media along with the associated devices for writing and reading these media types has become well within the reach of most consumers and users. Indeed, a majority of computers being shipped come with at least one device for creating archives and backups of data, music and videos on these disks. They often include powerful software for organizing and writing or “burning” this information onto these disks and stickers for stamping or labeling the disks.
To readily identify a CD or DVD, a great number of users have resorted to scanning the printed side of an original disk with a scanner or scanning device and then printing the images onto stickers to then label the archive or backup copy. In many cases, the accuracy of the image reproduction depends on the resolution and quality of the scanner and printer combination. If a user's original CD or DVD becomes lost or damaged the backup version not only contains the same information but also appears visually similar.
Some images printed on the CD media or DVD media do not cover the entire print side of the media and leave certain areas exposed. These exposed areas typically show the translucent material that makes up the disk media as well as the reflective metallic undercoat sandwiched between different layers of the material. Unfortunately, lights emitted from the scanners reflect off the reflective material during scanning and creates optical iridescent artifacts. In some cases, the optical iridescent artifacts are identified as rainbow artifacts as they appear to generate a rainbow of colors on the image. These optical iridescent artifacts are a result of the thin film interference caused when the light reflects off different layers of the CD. Currently, the optical iridescent artifacts reduce the quality of the printed output as conventional scanner and printer devices are not capable of eliminating the effect.